The Clean Clate Club

We've started something new at meal times here.  We reward our children (as well as adult's who eat with us) by singing the, "Clean Plate Club" song when someone eats all the food on their plate.  We don't require our children to eat every bite of food they've been served, because if they're full, I don't want to require them to overeat.  What we were doing was looking for an encouragement to eat, a reward if you will, for eating all of the food they've been served.

My friend told me she had this little thing she did for her boys that for some reason worked, even though it was simple: when they ate all the food on their plates, she sang a little song to them.  It's an easy song, and you can do variations of it fairly easily.  My children memorized the song after only two hearings.  Let me tell you, this song is magic.

My children get very excited when they get close to finishing their plate (or bowl) of food.  My son told me this morning that he wasn't done eating his breakfast because he wanted to be, "a member of the clean clate club."  So I waited, and when he was done he looked up and we smiled and then my daughter and I sang the song to him (while my daughter danced):

<singing>
Greyson is a member of the clean plate club,
the clean plate club,
the clean plate club,
Greyson is a member of the clean plate club,
because he ate all his food.

The last line can be varied such as saying, "because he ate all his broccoli, potatoes and chicken" or "because he ate every single bite!"  Regardless of what you sing, my two children get excited, smile and sing along.

And now, they will be the first to point out that Gramps or daddy or Uncle Jonathan is going to be a member of the "clean clate club" (as they call it).  So we make a big deal of singing our song to everyone who qualifies. 

At restaurants we have been known to sing quietly, so we don't bother the other diners (or look foolish as adults, you be the judge there).

The Big Boy Update:  Throwing lesson.  My son needs someone, most definitely other than me, to give him a lesson in throwing a ball.  He does this off to the side throw that looks awkward and usually fails at getting the ball remotely close to where he wanted to send it.  Hopefully someone will step in and show him how to throw soon, because I think he got his throwing skills from me.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  It's been snowing here.  It's now what's called a, "wintery mix" but a few hours ago it was nice and fluffy.  After dinner we all went out in the snow and had a good time checking out the four inches of accumulation.  Before we went out my daughter got dressed.  She decided that she needed to wear, "Buzzy Buzzy" (her name for her biggest, fluffiest jacket) as well as her snow suit (which is also very thick).  Uncle Jonathan got her dressed and then had a hard time not laughing at her because she could hardly walk in her thick layers.   It seemed to work for her though, because she wanted to stay out longer than anyone else in the cold weather.